West Africa

Looting halts aid work in chaotic north

BAMAKO/DAKAR, 3 April 2012 (IRIN) - Malians in the northern towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu are hiding in their homes in fear following the weekend takeover by rebel groups, during which hospitals, health clinics, government buildings, and most NGO and UN offices and warehouses were looted, and in some cases destroyed, leaving the bulk of humanitarian operations suspended. full report

CLIMATE CHANGE: Farmers and forecasts

 BINGERVILLE/DAKAR, 2 April 2012 (IRIN) - Unpredictable rainfall in parts of Côte d’Ivoire cost some farmers over half of their harvest in 2011 producers told IRIN, but, armed with more knowledge about how to get weather reports and interpret them, they might still have been able to boost their output, say agricultural specialists. full report

MALI: Holy wars and hostages – AQIM in the Maghreb

 DAKAR, 30 March 2012 (IRIN) - Mopti in central Mali had a thriving tourism industry a few years ago, but Issa Ballo, a private tour operator, says the city built at the confluence of two rivers and often described as the ‘Gateway to the North’ still has everything in terms of “adventure, discovery and culture”. full report

Briefing: War and peace – Mali repeats the cycle

BAMAKO, 29 March 2012 (IRIN) - During a visit to Bamako, capital of Mali, on 26 February, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé observed that the Malian government would be best advised to sit down and negotiate with the MNLA (Mouvement National pour la liberation de l’Azawad), which is fighting to carve out an independent state in the north. full report

MAURITANIA: “Nothing left but dust and sand”

 KAEDI, 29 March 2012 (IRIN) - Hunger has come again to the Sahel. “Since yesterday I have only drunk water,” said Houley Dia, 60, a widow who lives in Houdallah, a village of the Fula ethnic group in southern Mauritania on the border with Senegal. “I have lived through hard times before - no rain, animal diseases, locust swarms - but this year is worse than ever,” she told IRIN. full report

SAHEL: Malian refugees risk being “forgotten”

 DAKAR, 28 March 2012 (IRIN) - Mali is facing its “worst humanitarian crisis for 20 years” due to a combination of food insecurity affecting around three million people, and conflict-induced displacement in the north. full report

Analysis: Warriors and websites - a new kind of rebellion in Mali?

 MOPTI, 26 March 2012 (IRIN) - In the wake of the coup that deposed Mali’s President Amadou Toumani Touré, military junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo has stressed a willingness to negotiate with rebel groups reportedly surrounding the northern town of Kidal and reinforcing positions around Gao, 190 km further south. full report

WEST AFRICA: Giant anti-polio drive threatened by insecurity

 DAKAR, 23 March 2012 (IRIN) - Health volunteers, aid agency and health authority staff are trying to immunize 111.1 million children under five across 20 countries in West and Central Africa against polio. The four-day campaign started today, but instability in some of the target countries could hamper the effort. full report

NIGER: Drought does not mean death of pastoralism

 DIFFA REGION, 22 March 2012 (IRIN) - Having spent a fruitless day in search of pasture in the searing heat, about 20 worried and exhausted Fulani pastoralists from Niger near the southeastern edge of the Sahara lie under the stars and mull their future. The next rains and green pastures are still another four months away - or maybe not, mused one of them - “only Allah knows”. full report

MALI: Rebellion claims a president

 BAMAKO, 22 March 2012 (IRIN) - Former Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré, overthrown this morning by mutinous soldiers, said recently that tackling recalcitrant Tuareg rebels in the north is going to be an ongoing task for future governments. full report
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